Mindy McCready also shot and killed boyfriend's dog

Before she apparently shot herself, singer Mindy McCready also shot and killed her late boyfriend's dog, according to Cleburne County (Ark.) Sheriff Marty Moss.

Moss said Monday that the dog's body was found Sunday next to McCready on the front porch of a home in Heber Springs, Ark. Two other dogs at the home were reportedly uninjured.

"Based on what we have found at the scene at this time, we do believe that she took the life of the dog that we are being told by family members belonged to (David) Wilson before she took her own life," Moss said.

Wilson, a record producer and father of McCready's youngest son, Zayne, died of a gunshot wound at the same home in January. His death is still being investigated.

Fox News cites an anonymous friend of McCready's saying of the dog's death, "Mindy really loved her dog and that would not have been an act of malice at all. It would have been more of a case where she just didn’t want to leave the dog alone."

McCready, 37, had battled substance abuse and was arrested several times.

“As sad as it is, (her apparent suicide) didn’t come as a major shock, because she’s just been battling demons for so long," Billy McKnight, McCready’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her 6-year-old son, told TODAY on Monday. “I was around her when she attempted suicide twice, so I knew it was in her.”

It was earlier reported that McCready's two young sons are in foster care.